So we started talking in the office about what sports cars we want to see revived, and we settled on a pair of classic sports cars and one car that is officially dead, but not out of showrooms yet. The Porsche 944,Honda S2000, and the Dodge Viper are all in our dream garage of dead cars we want to return. Keep reading to find out why!

So we started talking in the office about what sports cars we want to see revived, and we settled on a pair of classic sports cars and one car that is officially dead, but not out of showrooms yet. The Porsche 944,Honda S2000, and the Dodge Viper are all in our dream garage of dead cars we want to return. Keep reading to find out why!

Leave it to people power to get something done that an automaker of Dodge’s status wasn’t able to do. Most of you will probably remember a few months ago, a group of Dodge Viper enthusiasts started pooling their resources together to accomplish one goal: send the fifth-generation Dodge Viper to the Nürburgring to attempt a lap run. I didn’t think that it could happen, but I’m happy to have been proven wrong. The crowdfunding movement actually worked and a bone-stock Viper ACR found its way to the famed German race track. More importantly, it was able to set a lap time of 7:03.45, almost nine seconds quicker than the 7:12.13 lap time set by its predecessor back in 2011.

It’s true that the current-generation Viper ACR’s lap time is still a long ways away from the current production car lap record of 6:52.01 held by the Lamborghini Huracán Performante. But just because it’s still over 10 seconds away from the record, it doesn’t mean that the Viper ACR’s time at the ‘Ring was a complete waste. In fact, the lap time set by the American sports car placed it sixth-fastest of all time among production cars, faster than the Nismo-prepped Nissan GT-R, the Mercedes-AMG GT R, and the Chevrolet Corvette C7 Z06. More importantly, driver Dominik Farnbacher and the team behind the attempt will make a go at the track a few more times this week with the goal of besting the lap times of the Porsche 918 Spyder and the Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce. Looks like the Dodge Viper ACR’s quest for Nürburgring glory isn’t done just yet.

Those who missed out on buying the Viper before Dodge closed all ordering earlier this year now have a second chance to get the sports car before the model is discontinued. Company officials have confirmed that ordering for the last production of the Viper will reopen by the end of the year.

Dodge chief Tim Kuniskis told The Detroit News that the company was forced to close the order books for the Viper back in October 7, largely because it had to figure out how many more orders it could accommodate by the end of the model-year production in mid-2017. “We actually had to shut down the ordering because we outran our headlights,” Kuniskis said. “We didn’t know if we were going to have enough parts to build all the cars that people ordered.”

A shortage in parts, specifically the custom-built carbon fiber aero wings, also forced Dodge to close the order books for the Viper ACR back in September 27. Turns out, the shortage even forced a handful of Viper ACR models to sit stagnant in Detroit as the company waited for the parts to arrive. Now it appears that the issues have been sorted out and production for the sports car is expected to reopen anytime soon.

The company didn’t say how many models it can produce, but the expectation, at least in the mind of Kuniskis, is that both variants of the Viper will sell out in short order, particularly the track-capable Viper ACR, whose demand is, according to the Dodge boss, “off the charts.”

The Dodge Viper has been making the headlines for all the wrong reasons recently. Not that it’s going to matter from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ perspective, but as the automaker prepares to once again send the Viper into the disabled list, it wouldn’t hurt for the model to get a little bit of shine, would it? How surprising is it then that the provider of good news is the Detroit Public Library’s National Automotive History Collection, which has named the Viper its most “Collectible Vehicle of the Future” for 2016.

For those not familiar with this award, the NAHC is basically predicting that models of the Viper launched in 2015 will fetch hefty sums in future auctions. The irony is overflowing on this one as the current state of the Viper doesn’t necessarily scream “future collector’s item.” On the contrary, the sports car’s paltry sales numbers are being blamed as the biggest reason why FCA is discontinuing the model for the time being. And yet, the NAHC thinks that the 2015 Viper has the potential to command frenzied bidding wars in future auctions?

Granted, the NAHC is a legitimate organization that touts itself as having “more than 600,000 documents” related to the auto industry, making it “the world’s most extensive public archive of automotive information.” The group didn’t earn that distinction by throwing out ridiculous statements and the NAHC Board of Trustees pays careful attention on the pulse of the industry to determine which model it thinks has a chance to be a future collectible.

But the Viper? It sounds silly to think about a model languishing in the sales charts being hailed as a future collectible. Even more perplexing, given the model’s tumultuous history since the turn of the century, is that the NAHC has bestowed the Viper the award three times before: 2003, 2007, and 2013. Maybe it deserved those awards at some point in its history, but there’s little indication about the 2015 Viper that points to it becoming a future must-have in any car collection.

Maybe the NAHC will be proven right 50 or so years from now. But today? It’s admittedly kind of hard to wrap our heads around the organization’s decision.

The problems that FiatChrysler Automobiles has had with Dodge Viper is well-documented. As it turns out, the Viper was such a problem that FCA almost sold it to a group of deep-pocketed enthusiasts a few years ago. Word of this a rather shocking revelation that comes from The Truth About Cars, which managed to talk to none other than noted car collector James Glickenhaus, who himself had first-hand knowledge of the proposed deal.

According to TTAC, Glickenhaus served as an adviser to the group of investors who eventually backed out of the deal after doing their due diligence on the Viper’s business. Glickenahus himself advised on not doing the deal, arguing that anybody who ends up buying the business would have to sell “three times the number of Vipers” that Chrysler has been selling annually “just to break even.”

Considering how much trouble FCA already has had in convincing people to buy the Viper, the targets were simply too difficult to attain. That’s not to say that the group was in over its head from the very beginning because, apparently, they had the financial means to pull it off. It would just be too much of a headache to partake in and, ultimately, would not be worth all the trouble.

A spokesperson for FCA told TTAC that it wasn’t shopping the Viper “at this point in time” but refused to comment on whether the discussions with this group even took place. Glickenhaus did say that the automaker was receptive to the idea of selling the Viper, even adding that the deal, had it gone through, would have also included the production facility where it’s being built.

Whether the negotiations happened or not, none of it will change the current fate of the Viper, which is headed to retirement very soon now that FCA has thrown the white flag on the model.